China’s capital Beijing has deployed electric sanitation vehicles replacing the gas driven ones to cut down emissions levels in the city which has been battling heavy pollution. Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group and Chinese motor company BYD would upgrade city’s sanitation vehicles from using gas to electricity, state-run People’s Daily Online reported.

The first batch of the whole series electric sanitation vehicles made a debut in Beijing on August 18. The electric sanitation vehicles include 26 modes, covering a wide range of road sanitation functions, from road sweeping and garbage transportation to garbage disposal.

After the upgrade, it is estimated that a 16-tonne electric-powered sweeping truck will produce 80 tonnes less of carbon dioxide a year compared to the original gas-powered truck, the report said. Beijing, a city of over 20 million, is ranked ninth among the nation’s ten cities with the worst air.

A total of 791 electric sanitation vehicles, representing about 45 per cent of all the sanitation vehicles in the city, will be moving on the streets by the end of this year, Zhu Jiacai, general manager of the Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group said. Further, by the end of next year all the sanitation vehicles in Beijing will be upgraded to electric ones, achieving zero gas emissions by sanitation vehicles, it said.